On the acquisition of Greek free choice items
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36505/ExLing-2020/11/0053/000468Keywords:
free choice items, scalar implicatures, quantification, alternatives, semanticsAbstract
Children acquire quite late scalar implicatures associated with quantification and have the tendency to interpret existential quantifiers as universals (e.g., Smith, 1980; Noveck, 2001; Papafragou and Musolino, 2003). Free choice Items (FCIS) are also associated with scalar implicatures depending on whether they are full set or subset FCIs (e.g., Vlachou 2012, 2020). This paper presents experimental results showing that 9-, 10- and 11-year-old children and adults perform better on full set than on subset FCIs. It is argued that adults perform better than children in sentences with subset FCIs as the “not-all” pragmatic inference is acquired late. Difficulties in sentences with subset FCIs in adults are due to absence of domain alternatives.
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